A demand has existed for a long time for inexpensive and ecologically beneficial packages for pressurized, carbonated beverages. The packages found on the market today are glass bottles, aluminium cans and plastic bottles. Each of these has some advantages and disadvantages.
Glass has good properties that permits the manufacture of a gas-tight package which withstands the inner pressure the contents exercise on the package and which does not affect the taste of the liquid contents. Glass bottles can be cleaned and refilled or crushed when the raw material is to be used anew for bottle manufacture. The ability wash and refill glass bottles may be considered advantageous but the washing process entails undesirable expense and an appreciable consumption of energy. Conventional glass bottles, moreover, are heavy and occupy a large space in transport. The weight makes them also less attractive for the consumer.
The aluminium cans are also eminently suitable for recycling. The main disadvantage of aluminium as packing material, however, is the expensive and energy-demanding manufacture of aluminium, which also tends to become more expensive still with rising energy prices. A further disadvantage of this type of packages is that the inside surface of the cans is varnished and this varnish contains solvents which negatively affect the taste of the liquid. Furthermore, empty packages which are transported to the brewery cannot be stacked into one another, so that the transport becomes inefficient and expensive.
Plastic bottles which are also encountered on the market for carbonated beverages are expensive. The plastic raw material may be reused, however, for another manufacture, such as e.g. insulating padding in clothing.
The development of a wholly new packaging for pressurized contents requires all of the abovementioned aspects to be carefully weighed. The packaging should be inexpensive and the manufacture should not be too energy-demanding or require an expensive raw material. The package should be recoverable. Moreover, it should be light from a point of view of the consumer and of transport and, in particular, it should be stackable for a more efficient transport in the empty state. The packing material should protect the product and it should not affect its taste and quality. The material also should be gastight and withstand the internal pressure which the liquid exercises on the package.